Once a major supplier and advisor to the COBRA organization, DESTRO now pursues his own diabolical aims. Building up a small army of IRON GRENADIER troopers from his private bodyguards, he incites unrest in unstable countries, creating new markets for his armament. As his influence grows around the world, he dreams the dreams that COBRA COMMANDER once dreamed.

"One of his ancestors started the family fortune by selling arms to both sides during the English Civil War. One ancestor was caught in the act by Cromwell's men, and was made to wear an uncomfortable steel mask. (They had to punish him, but they still wanted his weapons.) Since that time, the lairds of the DESTRO clan have worn the mask with pride and passed it down to succeeding generations."